Paul Bettany Quotes

I loved having a crew. I loved being the person who woke at six in the morning and knew where to put the camera. I loved watching the actresses cry, and to know that if you were clever and didn't do too many rehearsals, that it just came that way.

Spielberg gave us three takes before saying anything to us. Since then, I do that, three takes, to let the actors find their rhythm.

I usually don't say anything to the actors. It works better for me because when they come to the set, they are at the same time scared and excited because they are not well aware of what will happen.

It's a whole other way of working when you work in films: You know exactly the arc of your character.

Of course there are some actors that are better than others and performances that are better than others, but they're always embedded in the greater film. They are mediated through the work of so many other people: the director directs, the lighter sets the scene, the editors edit, the music gets put to it.

I think acting is boring because you have to sit for a long time. And being a director I am used to running around and being busy on sets. I lack the actor software.

I know it sounds earnest, but I do really feel in my bones that acting is just a small part of the equation when you are making a movie. The director really is in charge. Actors are as important or unimportant as the rest of the people around them.

If I can't finish a screenplay, if I can't get to the last page as a writer, it probably means it's not a good movie for me to make.

Preparation is really important for actors; they need to know who they are, where they're from, and the experiences up to the point that we make the film.

I take time to write my script, if I have more scripts, I will make more movies.

I think that as a director, especially when it comes to writing the script, which I also do, and I'm also the first one to visualize this story, I think contributing to the film industry means I'm able to take the best of a story and translate it well into a movie that can be released in theaters.

When I started acting, I did many films without even an idea of what the script was about. The film would start, and then we would discover what we were expected to do on the sets. Those days have changed.

When you are signing a film, you should not miss the beginning process which involves workshops and discussions; otherwise, it is difficult to understand the character.

For me, it's important that the script is good. Then a good director will want to make it.

You cannot sit at home at act. You need a story, a director, you need people to believe in you, to put you through that journey. It is not something you can attain within yourself.

The first thing I look at with a project isn't who's directing, whether it's a big film; it's the character and whether I want to tell her story.

A director should be in a position where he is only directing. On the sets, he is only looking at the performances, thinking 'How I am going to shoot this?'

Once you turn on the camera, making a movie is making a movie. I don't care if it's $9 million dollars or $50 million dollars. You have bigger toys, bigger set, actors who are better paid, but once you turn on the camera, it's director and performance, and I don't find a big difference.

Usually, I don't revisit a scene once shot. However, in 'Gentleman,' every morning on the sets, I had to revisit the last four scenes and then shoot for the next set of scenes.

I'm a big believer in building a crew. Movies are the most collaborative art form at the tend of the world, and it takes hundreds of people to make one. At the end of the day, I get the lion's share of praise or blame but everybody on the ground knows that it was all of us.

I learned that getting a movie made in Hollywood is a near impossibility, and the process can be a wild adventure. TV is a lot more consistently productive - no offense to the beautiful world of feature film.

Imagine you wake up one morning with a knock at the door, and when you answer, there's Denzel Washington announcing that he's going to be filming on your street for several weeks.

I realised that I enjoyed direction while making 'DCH.' The process of putting a film together and working with the cast and crew felt good.

When I find those actors who are going to work that hard and collaborate that deeply, my role is to make sure there's a whole lot there for them to work with.

Finding one good script is a huge challenge. So I do a film whose script comes and grabs me. Once I finish that, I look forward to the next movie.